I personally dislike steampunk but that wont affect my post hopefully. The problem I have with steampunk is that its usually in places we never want to see it, STV for example, its 1 of my favourite zones in WoW, so many fond memories. As of recently theres been oil rigs and such popping up everywhere it actually depresses me because it makes me think of real life and I know the aim of crapaclysm was to make me hate the game but for god sake leave my lush scenery alone!

so you are saying that the needs to stay the way it were for like 8 years ago.?

It works perfectly well in goblin areas ect, and I love it when used appropriately but at times like STV it gets waaay too intrusive and I dislike it alot. At this point id be willing to let them put DEHETA quests all over the place, where you get put in a new zoned area without the steampunk after doing some radical PETA crap to liberate the area.

Kalimdore/Eastern kingdoms was hit by thunamis and was sundered. No shit oil are popping up everywhere. and there was Goblins digging for gems and other materials in STV, no wonder they move over to the oil, since that a main material of the warfare.

It still needs some anchors into reality, otherwise it would be just pure randomness.

Those anchors are the fact it has familiar things attached, like societies that mirror real ones (Tauren = Native Americans), locations that feel familiar (Swamps, Jungles, etc...), while remaining grounded in it's own established design.

Guns in WarCraft were established as alternate weapons that are on par with the damaging power of bows and crossbows, and technology has been established as "on-par" with some things magic already does. There is nothing in WarCraft that has ever implied guns are more powerful then bows. You are basing that only on how the real world works, thus why people have to point out to you and others that Azeroth is not the real world.

One thing about WoW that has never made sense to me is all the technology in this game. I was always under the impression that the world we play in was some kind of medieval fantasy type setting like LoTR but I was way wrong.

Blizz has gone way overboard with all the tech in this game in the last few expacs. Everything from motorcycles, to helicopters, to hover rockets ect I mean what next? Jet planes? Computers? Are we going to be seeing Garrosh log into his facebook on his ipad while he's bored in Org? Will we see Thrall calling up Aggra on his new Samsung Galaxy S to check in on her?

There is technology in this game that even surpasses things we have in the real world, like all these robotics we see in the game. I don't know about you guys but I've never seen anyone riding around on hovering rockets to get to work.

That's the thing though, if the citizens of Azeroth have access to all this technology why even bother using swords,shields, bows and all that kind of primitive weaponry? Why not just pick up a gun since history has shown them to be a far superior weapon? Never bring a knife to gun fight anyone? You have rockets, bombs, guns all at your disposal yet you still decide to to use axes and swords? Why?

Anyone else feel the technology in the World...of Warcraft is out of control and breaks the immersion a little bit?

Helicopters since WC2. Computers and holograms since Vanilla. Space ships and giant robots since TBC.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

´So.. sorry to bring this up but..you know that .."thing" (Med'an).. is that "thing" cannon still?
...as much have some have wished otherwise, yes. (Loreology)

No it isn't real life. It's got magic and dragons and steampunk robots. So how on earth are swords still as relevant as they were in the middle ages in the real world?

Well to that I'd have to say...sure people in real life go out and kill each other with guns, but it's not like hearing of death by stabbing or being beat to death by blunt objects has disappeared. I'm not going to go searching for crime reports to see how shootings stacks up against stabbings and deaths by blunt objects, either.

Swords are still relevant because players still like to use them in their fantasy world and they look cool. If you can't shoot it, might as well hack it to death.

Well to that I'd have to say...sure people in real life go out and kill each other with guns, but it's not like hearing of death by stabbing or being beat to death by blunt objects has disappeared. I'm not going to go searching for crime reports to see how shootings stacks up against stabbings and deaths by blunt objects, either.

Swords are still relevant because players still like to use them in their fantasy world and they look cool. If you can't shoot it, might as well hack it to death.

Well I don't claim to have any statistics with me either, but I can say with confidence that guns are more effective weapons than swords. Just because we aren't immune to them it doesn't mean that isn't the case.

As has been pointed out, technology is not an "on/off" switch. Gunpowder weapons have been used in warfare in Europe since the 15th century, yet in the 20th century, bayonets and sabres still saw use in the trenches. Why? Because in many situations, they were still the superior weapons. Tanks and bayonets still coexist today. Having one doesn't mean you can't put the other to good use.

Bows were not replaced by muskets because the muskets were better; in fact, the bow was a far superior weapon with better range, penetration, and rate of fire. The catch was that using a bow well is hard while using a musket decently is really easy. So if you could use a bow, that was far superior. If you couldn't, you'd get by okay with a gunpowder weapon (or crossbow). It wasn't until the 19th century that firearms actually became better than bows, and that's more than 400 years after gunpowder weapons first appeared on battlefields.

The same goes for pretty much any other technology - steam locomotives and horse-drawn carriages coexisted. Many ships would have both sails and steam propellers. There are plenty of examples of things like fire engines where the pump was steam powered, but that pump was placed on a horse-drawn carriage. Because the steam engine was great for pumping water, but horses were cheaper and faster for transporting the engine around. The cheapness is especially relevant - just because there exists a machine that can do something better, that doesn't mean that the machine is the better option.

There's something wrong when you go from iconic battles like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrEfMI6uSJc
to battles with a massive ship and jet airplanes with radios n shit, don't forget the heat seeking missles and automatic weapons that every foot soldier seems to hold these days. I think tech and steampunk is alright when it's not widespread like the gnome submarine, i dig that stuff.

I have no real issue with the technology in WoW, but I do think in some ways they've gone a little overboard. I mean, airships and bombs I can understand - the former are a classic fantasy trope and all - but computers and holograms (at least the non-magical variety) are just a little out of place if you ask me.

One thing about WoW that has never made sense to me is all the technology in this game. I was always under the impression that the world we play in was some kind of medieval fantasy type setting like LoTR but I was way wrong.

exactly wow isnt medieval its steampunk which means magic and technology coexist azeroth is actually farther along then us its just due to magic alot of things havent become "outdated".

think of it like fullmetal alchemist which takes place around the same timephrame as world war 2

Part of why I love WoW is its steampunk-ish vibe. I think too many people are heavily accustomed to the typical LOtR kind of fantasy and have narrow views of the genre. Fantasy is such an expansive genre. You always see people arguing how unrealistic the protection of chainmail bikinis are yet seem to forget that shooting fireballs out of ones hand, dragons and shapeshifting is just as absurd really. (and yet more absurd, how MoP's east-asian influences are unrealistic and out of place in a game with walking cows and purple elves)

I wish people would stop using the term "steampunk" for WoW. Steampunk is a completely different animal, and while a steampunk setting may have some fantasy flavor, the genre is steampunk, not fantasy. Mainly steampunk is sci-fi or alternate reality/history.

WoW on the other hand is quite firmly in the fantasy genre, even though it has some scientific elements. It's not steampunk, and even the scientific/techno elements of WoW aren't steampunk. Steam, yes. Punk? Not so much. Just because something is powered by steam, it doesn't mean it's steampunk. Steam-powered trains and ships weren't steampunk. They were just old, and used steam as their power source.

Even technofantasy doesn't work for WoW, since most technofantasy settings are science fiction with magic.

Just because you've heard the term "steampunk" somewhere and seen someone use it to describe WoW, or the "techno" elements in WoW, it doesn't mean it has been used correctly. WoW isn't steampunk. WoW's technology isn't steampunk. WoW is just fantasy with some science added in.

I could summarize it like this: WoW is steampunk just as much as every science fiction is cyberpunk. In other words, not quite.

Yet everyone consider Arcanum a steampunk game. Where is the difference?

Okay fine, but then explain to me why the citizens of Azeroth don't embrace all this superior tech and give up the inferior swords, bows and shields/primitive weapons?

Well, bows were never really inferior back when guns looked like what most WoW guns are based on. It was just easier to train soldiers in hand cannon marksmanship than archery, hence why firearms became a standardized ranged weapon. So at the technological level where (most of) Azeroth sits and considering how many incredibly skilled (in-universe) archers there are running around, there's no real need to phase out bows. And as long as guns in any universe aren't as efficient as in the real world today, there's no real reason to phase out sword and board either. If you're good at handling a huge shield or an elusive target to aim at, you can get in close and stick a blade in someone with a blunderbuss or bow.

That said, it's all handwaved by the high fantasy setting anyway and not supposed to make perfect sense. I just feel that it makes a little more sense than you credit it for.

PvE:er to the bone. Plays a druid. Also plays DotA and a whole bunch of other stuff. Listens to mostly everything.

"We actually contracted out the creation of the equally-epic-yet-non-loot-dropping-non-boss mobs in Throne of Thunder to a giant snail. I think he did a pretty good job."

But seriously there is a lot over the top tech. I was ok with the tech when it was to a point steampunkish but apparently they have gone to cyberpunk(wtf is that anyway) which is kinda getting out of hand.

But seriously there is a lot over the top tech. I was ok with the tech when it was to a point steampunkish but apparently they have gone to cyberpunk(wtf is that anyway) which is kinda getting out of hand.